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Saturday, 30 May 2015

We
left the dock waving a sad g'bye to Robin and Jac as they
continued with putting Blackthorn back together in preparation for
their summer aboard. We sailed and motored slowly up river and out
into the bay, seeing very little traffic and shaped our course for
the entrance to Buzzards Bay. Before too long a breeze came in and we
were soon bowling along at 6knots having benefited from a 4 day haul
out and anti-foul. Day slipped into night and we were joined by a big
red moon and it felt good to be back at sea and heading north. The
first couple of days went well, the nights enlivened by 14 strong
fishing fleets we eased our way through. The only issue we seemed to
have was the self-steerer didn't seem as responsive as usual and we
were reduced to steering by hand on a number of occasions. It would
be some days before we checked it and found a part had been bent
causing it to stick on part of the framework. Reversing the part
cured it and we have subsequently had it rebuilt in Belfast, Maine.

On
the 7th the fog came in and we crept slowly forward but
mostly drifted. Sometime it would lift a little and we saw puffins
and whales nearby. But mostly the fog lay all around us; visibility
often as little as 100 metres but mostly around 500-800 metres.

Fog

We were
far enough off shore not be too concerned about tugs etc but as we
approached, at night, the northern most Traffic Separation Lane
running into New York we could hear foghorns and see the traffic on
AIS. We hove to to await morning and the vain hope it may have
lifted. It didn't of course but it felt a little easier to be
crossing the lane in daylight. With little wind and no sun we
motored from time to time to charge batteries; it also enabled us to
run the radar but the dense, dreary and dripping fog continued. We
decided to head outside Nantucket rather than go through Buzzards Bay
as drifting in light winds would be easier.

Fog

A wise choice as we heard
the forecast of 22knots inside the bay with zero visibility whilst we
only had 10knots and limited viz. The following day they actually
closed the Canal after Northern Right Whales had been spotted in it
and several hours passed before we heard it was reopened. The fog continued. We worked
our way around Nantucket and turned for Maine, the fog finally cleared on Tuesday May 12 when we were some 40 miles from
Isle Au Haut and the wind, which had been in a general SW direction
switched to the NW and picked up. So the last bit was more on the
nose than we wanted and dictated a change of venue but we were so
glad to be back in Maine that it didn't matter. We slid into Moores
Hbr on Isle Au Haut around 8pm on Wed 13th May some 729 nm
and 91/2 days after we left Portsmouth. Whilst open to the SW, the harbour offers
great protection from northerly quadrant winds; good mud, silence
broken only by the call of a loon and the place to ourselves. It doesn't get any better.

The
following day we sailed up to Belfast via the Fox Island Thoroughfare; some
beating but mostly just sunshine and emotion as we cruised up Penobscot
Bay; passing the Camden Hills, Isleboro and so many places we are
familiar with. A call to the Belfast Harbour had Kathy, the
harbour-master, on the radio welcoming us in and by 6 pm we were tied
up, greeted and so glad to be “home”

We've
been here 14 days, seen friends we haven't seen for 3 years, wondered
where the time has gone and made plans to leave.... the permit we
have for the US expires in the middle of June; the ice seems to
have cleared from Belle Isle Strait other than a few 'bergs and
Greenland is the summer destination so a fair bit of sailing over the
next 5 months.

With the passing of miles our main had become thinner and we were reduced to spraying adhesive onto the main and a patch then pressing them together. Luckily we had some spare material and a local sailmaker in Norfolk cut out the worst of the sail and added a new piece. Here in Belfast we have had another sailmaker repair the #1 and add a patch to the stays'l, so all is well we think.